Pages

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Interview for HOP- Thomas Reidy (aka Goatboy)

I wrote a series of articles about designing better games for House of Paincakes over the past 2 months or so. While I was working on the process and developing material for the series, I conducted a good number of interviews with various people across the internet, as well as some real life folks.

This interview features something a little different. When I started writing the series, I had ideas of folks I wanted to talk to-but I knew that to be a good series with interesting flair, I needed to talk to more than my "usual suspects". So I sent out an email asking for ideas on interviewees and this guy's name came up again and again. I was really happy to talk to him, because I like his work so much; and he was a blast to chat with. Here's what Thomas (aka Goatboy) had to say:

Lo: What inspires your art? I know you do work outside of the hobby- what do you find most exciting about creation?

Inside the hobby, I know you have created some iconic pieces. What's your favorite tabletop piece, and why? (share pictures if you like) What made the process fun? What challenges did you face?

Goatboy: Let's see.

Lots of things inspire my art. Usually it begins with a scene. I try to think of something exciting and interesting and then try my hardest to draw it. Whether it is someone looking cool or just a weird experiment in color it usually just comes down to me trying to recreate a scene that interested me during the day.

What is exciting about the creation is when other people besides myself enjoy my designs. I know it is important to please yourself when you draw/paint but it makes me feel good that people are excited when they get a logo drawn by me, have me paint up an army, or just come up with something funny to read on a weekly basis.

My favorite model right now is my large Thunder Wolf/Jugger Goat. I call him Lemmy and he is designed to have almost every option on a wolf lord. He is kind of nutty and is probably my favorite model. He has died so many times too.

Beyond that I am proud of some of my newer style minis I have been experimenting with. I wanted to try my take on NMM and I have enjoyed what I have discovered. I need to practice more of course and as usual slow down a bit. It just gets hard because I really just like playing with painted models and I am constantly coming up with new army lists so I need more painting plastic dudesmen. I am also proud of my initial start on the Primarchs - Horus. It was drawn in the beginning of me coming back to drawing by hand from years of doodling digitally. I miss my hand drawn precision and think this was a good picture to start off with.

My process is to start with what I like the most - something mean and chaos like. I go from there finding plastic pieces and combining things into some kind of mad creation. If it works I prime it up and get to painting. The same goes with drawing as I just start with pencil doodles to build up the shapes and then grab the markers and pens and get to inking. I want to look for a strong outline and I go from there filling in the details.

Lo: Can you tell me more about Lemmy? Was he a kitbash or did you create him via a greenstuff model? What inspired you to make goats as an army?

Goatboy: Lemmy was a kit bash. I had one random plastic Jugger left after a search through my bits bins. I decided, even though I have like 10 Space Goat Juggers, to make another one that would represent my extremely expensive Wolf Lord. Thus Lemmy was born from glue and bits to rule the Space Goats in his clawed hands. And I made Goats partial because of my nickname and also because I knew that no one else would want an army like this. I paint other people's army to help fund the model addiction and finding a color scheme and design that is just for me is extremely important. Once I complete another's army it is hard for me to go back and do another army of that type for myself. Thus I needed to find something that was just for me and only me.

Lo: I noticed that about much of your work. I noticed your take on Word Bearers. You admit you "get a lot of hate" over them. Why do you think that your spin is so objectionable? In your opinion, what makes ANY piece of art controversial?

Goatboy: I think most of the hate comes from the fact that well - it is the internet and it is cool to comment like you are not seeing me face to face. I haven't had anyone come up to me and give me hate directly. Also I think any hobby polarizes people into thinking their idea/thought is better because they enjoy it. All I care about is having fun in this game. I am a creative person so I like to do things that stretch my creativity. If I have to settle to make things exactly one way then it is a boring to me. Some people can't see that and just think it is some kind of crime against nature. That is their rights and I have no say how they play the game either. I just don't get mad and write about it on the internet.

Lo: What's NOT fun for you? What's just WORK when you're doing an army or commission? (Or do you only take projects that seem fun?)

Goatboy: Haha not fun is never an issue. I just like to paint. Or draw. I see everything as a challenge to my design thoughts and I usually like most work. I'm not the best as a clean painter/artist as I love the look of grim and grunge. It's probably being a kid of the 90's and my love of the look of urban decay. But I'll take on anything and try my best.